UK Patent No. 2 244 175 A teaches the integration of a color-selective photo diode and an appertaining downstream amplifier known from FIG. 9 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,570 A into one single housing. A color-selective photo diode is disposed beneath a selectively light-permeable inlet window provided with an anti-reflection coating. The color-selective integrated photo diode is provided with a first semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type p.sup.++ located at the surface of a second semi-conductor layer of a second conductivity type N.sup.+ which is in turn located at the surface of a third semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type P, whereby the latter is in the form of a substrate. Each of the three semiconductor layers is provided with an ohmic connection contact. The anti-reflection coating acts as an interference filter which is formed by building up alternating oxide and metal layers. Furthermore, another color filter is installed before the interference filter.
It is the object of the invention to improve the above-mentioned arrangement so that the color-selective photo diode and the downstream amplifier can be integrated in one single semiconductor chip.